What an amazing site! I've been lurking on the forum and reading as much as I can over many weeks. I've wanted shrimp for a very long time and I've decided on Amano shrimp. I'm on well water - PH of 8.1.
The tank is a 20gallon that has been fishless cycled. I have 6 potted plants - very decent size (2.25watt/gallon). No CO2. Aquaclear 40. No fish in it yet.
What I'd like to know is will the Amano shrimp be happy with plants that are in pots? If not I will add some java fern. (I'll be adding more javamoss).
What do you guys prefer to use as hiding spots for them?
Finally the substrate. Because of my high PH, black onyx is out. The ecocomplete is too expensive for me - $80Cdn. Any other suggestions for dark substrate that the Amano shrimp would prefer?
I'm hoping to add some tiny schooling fish (1.5 inches max) and some marble hatchetfish hopefully. I'm most excited about the shrimp though
What sort of pH range are we talking about? Amanos have limits of how high a pH they can take. They do best in the mid 7's. in my experience.
With plants, pick one you don't need to fertilize as going much over 5 ppm, especially with phosphates is not good for them.
Do a little reading on fish. Just be sure they are not agressive or have shrimp on their dining list. Amanos are pretty good with most samll non-agressive fish. Don't try the same thing with cherries. Most fish will find the babies a tasty treat.
Tahitian Moon Sand looks really nice and is a good quality inert dark substrate. I'm using it now in one of my tanks. It is expensive compared to regular cheap gravel or sand, but not extremely expensive.
klkelly wrote: I know that shrimp like planted tanks but I wasn't sure if potted plants counted
Actually, shrimp don't like planted tanks, the owners of planted tanks like shrimp in their tanks. Big difference. My own experience has shown that planted tanks are not optimal for shrimp...especially tanks with fast growing plants that could potentially take over the whole tank. If you still want some eye candy in your tank, then settle for extremely slow growing plants such as java moss or similar. Much more important than plants is leaf litter. This is discussed in more detail in the first article in the article section and in various other threads. Search this forum for "leaf litter" or "oak leaves" or just "leaf", "leaves" etc. for more info.
klkelly, leaf litters are the way to go as they provide a media for microorganisms to grow on. It only took my amano a couple of weeks to strip two oak leaves bare. Hope things go well for your tank and post a picture when you are done
Leaf litter with a Java FERN makes a nice showy tank (not java Moss). Java Fern is very undemanding and grows very slowly, but does toss off little baby plants now & then. The shrimp love to climb over it and clean it.
Here is both in one of my 10 gallon tanks.
Both Amano and red cherry shrimp will do OK at pH 8.3 but don't push it much higher than that. Like the others say, if you go with fish, stick with sucker mouth fish like Ottos and Bushy nosed plecos. I'm not sure how they would do in a pH that high though
1. Continue with the tank as planned (remove a couple of plants, tie in more javamoss). I've included a pic of it currently at the end of this post.
2. My almost brandnew 10 Gallon is completely cycled and is currently used as a goldfish quarantine tank. They are on day 22 of 30 and then they'll be put in the 40gallon. I can use this tank as a shrimp tank.
3. Purchase a five gallon eclipse type tank where everythings contained (filter, lighting etc).
What are your guys thoughts?
Picture of what I had planned to put them in. The plants are only along the back wall and are kept well trimmed. (<2.5wpg, no fert or co2) - no fish currenlty.
I'd check for nitrate levels, but the tank looks OK as is. I've raised amanos in tanks very much like this and they do just fine. Amanos will eat flake food and cooked greens, so it is easy to keep them happy.
Potting the plants doesn't hurt anything as long as the subtrate doesn't add minerals to the water.
I'm getting just a tad bit frustrated. It took me two months to fishless cycle this tank and I might be back to square one - really long story OY!!!Have to wait and see what happens here.
I have a bigger problem than that - my PH is 8.4! The PH in my 40Gallon Goldfish tank is always at 8.1 . PH after bubbling the well water for 24 hours is normally 8.3. 8.4 is too high for the hardiest of shrimp I'm sure.
So now I've decided to redo everything- the way I should have in the beginning. I'm going to set up the spare 10gallon, hope that cycled media will cycle it (ya right - didn't do that last time I wanted it to) and once I know its cycled mix well water with distilled water for the ideal PH. Slow growing low light plants if any : )
Now I will start the search for fish that love ph of 8.1-8.4 and that love plants
Question for you guys - I need to plan for how much water to cart once the tank is ready for shrimp. I can get distilled water in 5 gallon jugs. How much water should I plan for for the 10gallon shrimp tank on a weekly basis? (I'll keep ten gallons on hand just for emergencies at all times) Would having ten additional gallons on hand any given week be sufficient?
Most members do between 10-30% water change a week. I personally do several changes totaling about 30% each week. Figure that into your use of distilled water or R/O water and you know how much your 10 gallon supply will last. Best wishes with your tank and shrimp keeping
The other thing to keep in mind is the accuracy of your test. Are you using a meter, drops or strips? The last two are highly inaccurate. You can end up killing your critters by reacting to a problem that doesn't exist.
It pays to invest in a good meter like a pHep5 and a set of calibration fluids (7 & 10) and storage solution. This will set you back about $100 but if you have a large investment in your shrimp, the peace of mind alone is worth it.
My own experience has shown that planted tanks are not optimal for shrimp...especially tanks with fast growing plants that could potentially take over the whole tank. If you still want some eye candy in your tank, then settle for extremely slow growing plants such as java moss or similar. Much more important than plants is leaf litter. This is discussed in more detail in the first article in the article section and in various other threads. Search this forum for "leaf litter" or "oak leaves" or just "leaf", "leaves" etc. for more info.
. PH after bubbling the well water for 24 hours is normally 8.3. 8.4 is too high for the hardiest of shrimp I'm sure.
....8.4 is fine and dandy for many shrimp actually, including red cherry shrimp.